By Bill Lennertz
The term Charrette is being used these days to describe anything from a fifteen-minute presentation to a week-long, 14 hour a day design marathon. A Charrette is not as simple as getting everyone around a map and handing out pens. A real Charrette brings about real change - change to a plan, change in peoples understanding of a problem, and even political change.
For the uninitiated, a Charrette is a rigorous and inclusive planning process undertaken by an inter-disciplinary design team over a brief time period. The term charrette is derived from a French word meaning "little cart" and refers to the final intense work effort expended by architecture students to meet a project deadline. At the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris during the 19th century, proctors circulated with carts to collect final drawings, and students would jump on the charrette with their work and frantically put finishing touches on their drawings. This intense burst of activity is similar to the environment of the Charrette process described in this article.
The result of the modern-day Charrette is not just momentary, but profound change. After a Charrette, people have been heard to say: "I have been practicing transportation engineering for 20 years and until today I never knew why the fire department needs 20 feet of street clearance," or "Now I understand why alleys are so important," or "This is the most exciting professional experience I have had since college," and "I may not agree with the entire proposal, but my concerns were listened to and considered; I like how I was treated." Achieving such change requires a carefully planned and orchestrated process that starts well before the actual Charrette and continues long after it.
Four Principles of the Charrette Process
There are four guiding principles for a Charrette that brings about real change:
1. Involve Everyone from the Start
That is, anyone who might build, use, sell, approve or attempt to block the project. When involved at the inception, people are more likely to contribute their unique talents and viewpoints for the betterment of the project. Local citizens, officials, and approval board representatives meet and work with the design team throughout the Charrette to create a plan, which incorporates their concerns. The Charrette process gives the plan mutual authorship and a vision shared by all participants. This is especially important for those who will officially review the plan for a public agency or body. Having contributed to it, they are in a position both to understand and to support its rationale. This approach is initially more work, but, in the long run, it will save time in rework and most certainly produce a higher quality product with a greater chance of implementation.
 2. Work Concurrently and Cross-Functionally.
All design work must be done concurrently by a cross-functional team that usually includes architects, planners, engineers, economists, market experts, staff, and citizens, incorporating user input, so that decisions are measurable and realistic every step of the way. This cross-functional team working together from the beginning, further assures elimination of rework because the design work is continually reflecting the wisdom of each specialty.
During the Charrette, the collaboration of the design and development disciplines also help to produce a set of finished documents that address all aspects and phases of a project. Detailed designs are undertaken individually or in small groups. At other times, larger caucuses occur, and often there are simultaneous meetings. Periodically everyone gets together for a briefing, discussion or presentation.
3. Work in Short Feedback Loops.
A feedback loop happens when a design is proposed, reviewed, changed, and represented for further review. The shorter this cycle, the greater the level of influence and buy-in by the reviewing parties. In conventional planning processes, the design team presents plans to the community and input is gathered through various methods such as surveys, or small discussion groups. The designers then retreat to their office and return weeks later with a revised plan. Often during these weeks, some degree of misunderstanding occurs in the community. People who attended the meeting come away with different understandings. People, who don't like to speak in public, speak to others in the parking lot afterwards. The result is often a crystallization of opinions against the plan that send the design team back to step one. In a Charrette, the participants are told to come back the next evening to review the changes. The misunderstandings are resolved quickly before they have had a chance to crystallize. With conventional planning methods the design and feedback cycle can last up to four to six weeks. The Charrette shortens it to 24 hours.
During the day, and often late into the night, the Charrette studio is a forum for ideas with the unique advantage of this immediate feedback. At the same time that someone is designing a street, another is locating a tree, and an engineer is determining the effects on drainage. Questions to design problems are answered on the spot. Most importantly, simultaneous brainstorming and negotiation during a Charrette can change minds and encourage unique solutions to problems. The number and variety of solutions and ideas generated and considered is far greater than those under conventional planning methods. A better product results from this creative effort.
4. Work in Detail.
True buy-in can only be achieved by designing in detail. This way the critical issues are surfaced and addressed. This can only be accomplished by looking at the details (building types, block sizes, and public space) and the big picture (site circulation, transit, land use, and major public amenities), concurrently. Studies at these two scales also inform each other and reduce the likelihood that a fatal flaw will be overlooked in the plan.
The Four Step Charrette Process
The following steps detail the Charrette process:
Step 1: Start-Up
The purpose of the start-up phase is to ensure the best project process is developed by the entire project team. The project team holds a one-day meeting to design the Charrette process and reach agreement on desired outcomes of the Charrette, a list of key stakeholders, outreach plans, schedules, roles and responsibilities, and the preparation plan for the Charrette. The first public meeting is planned and scheduled. The underlying mission here is to ensure that all the right information and all the right people are at the Charrette.
 Step 2: Research, Education, and Concepts
At the Charrette, the team needs to be confident that it has all the resources necessary to make accurate design and strategy decisions. To ensure this, all relevant base data are collected and analyzed, participants are educated about the project, the process, and their role in it, and input is gathered from stakeholders. A kick-off public meeting is held to introduce the project and to ask citizens for their opinions of the base data, their interest in the project, and their needs. It is essential that all participants be treated with respect. People should leave the meeting wanting to come back. They should feel a sincere interest on behalf of the project leaders that their participation is critical and will make the project better.
Some initial development concepts are often sketched and tested in-house, as part of Step Two, for purposes of determining a range of feasible options, exposing areas requiring further research, and to allow the designers to get their hands dirty with the project so that they can work more efficiently during the Charrette.
Step 3: Charrette; "The best plans are made by many hands"
The design team establishes a full working studio on or near the site, complete with drafting equipment, supplies, computers, copiers, and fax machines. Design, engineering, production, marketing, sales, and all levels of project management are assembled for approximately one week. The first day features tours of the site followed by a team meeting and meetings with key individuals. In the evening a public meeting is held featuring a lecture on the Principles of Town Planning followed by an open public discussion. During the day, while a core design team is working on developing the plan, meetings are held with staff, landowners, developers, and interested citizens. The plans are continually revised in response to the constant flow of input both from participants and from other team members. The studio is open to the public at all times.
The Charrette catches people who usually slip through the cracks. The day and night meetings accommodate people's various schedules. Over the three days, word gets out to those who may not have heard of the event, and they start showing up.
 On one or more evenings there is an open public review of the day's work, resembling a traditional architectural "pin-up." These sessions provide the powerful short feedback loops that are crucial to the success of the Charrette. Because all stakeholders are present, everyone's perspective is heard and the perceptions of problems change. Participants learn that the project is more complex they first thought, and that there are other needs that must be accommodated. People should feel that their concerns are legitimate and have been addressed in the plan. Since it is not uncommon for more than 60% of the participants to come to every session, they see the evolving rationale behind each decision.
The Charrette ends with a final public presentation. The entire plan is presented in slide format. For those who have followed the Charrette from the first evening, the impact is dramatic. The atmosphere reminds many of college design studios where weary students present their set of finished drawings. Virtually all final presentations end with a round of applause from the local participants who appreciate the sincere work from the design team, who have lived in their town for a week. Some presentations have been held in conjunction with city council meetings. At one memorable Charrette held in Stuart, Florida, the council voted to accept the Charrette recommendations on the spot.
Step 4: Review, Revise, and Finalize
After the Charrette it is important to quickly review the work, make any necessary adjustments and get back to the public for a last look. To the greatest extent possible, critical stakeholders should be involved in the testing for market, financial, physical, and political feasibility. A final public review is held, sometimes on two consecutive evenings with a team work session in between. This can help to catch those who missed the Charrette. The two meetings also allow people who felt left out of the Charrette the opportunity to see their concerns addressed before the final plan is adopted. On the first evening, the revised Charrette plan is presented and comments are recorded. The next day the planning team makes any necessary changes to reflect the new input and they present the plan one more time at a public meeting on the second night. The team can then proceed to make final revisions and submit a final plan.
A Few Helpful Charrette Techniques
Bus Tours
Get all interested parties and key stakeholders on a bus and visit places that can serve as models for the project. These tours can be invaluable in getting a shared set of visual references for the Charrette. For example, when the discussion turns to something as specialized, yet critical, as curb radii, referring to that particular corner in Leesburg can quickly bring clarity to the problem.
Crowd Control
How do you handle an unpredictable flow of people visiting the studio and get anything done? A core production team needs to be working continuously. Therefore, it is crucial to have a person dedicated to greeting visitors. Information is delivered to the design team from the greeter and those attending meetings with stakeholders.
The Charrette Gallery
One way to involve a large number of visitors is to establish a gallery of ongoing work at the entrance area of the Charrette studio. When visitors arrive they are greeted and shown the ongoing work without disturbing the design team. The greeter explains the work and records their ideas. Of course, anyone with an important role, such as adjacent landowners or political representatives may need to work with a designer, but generally these people are involved through scheduled meetings.
For more information on charrettes, visit http://www.charretteinstitute.org, and http://www.charrettecenter.com
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